India Inc lauds PM Modi's Japan visit

New Delhi: India Inc applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Japan tour, from where he has announced major initiatives like turning the bilateral strategic partnership into a "special" partnership and a fast-track channel for Japanese investors.

"This visit marks a defining moment in our relationship and will be registered in history as one that significantly elevated the level of engagement between India and Japan," said Sidharth Birla, president, of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in a statement here.

"We are particularly enthused about the launch of the Japan-India Investment Promotion Partnership under which the two sides have agreed to double the flow of FDI into India and the number of Japanese companies over the next five years," he added.

Japan has committed to realise total financial flows of close to 3.5 trillion Yen (Rs.2.02 trillion) into India over the next five years in projects such as smart cities, transport systems and clean energy, FICCI said.

Bilateral trade between India and Japan stood at USD 16.31 billion by end of fiscal 2013-14. Projecting bilateral trade to touch USD 50 billion by 2019-2020 owing to what it called the "Modi-Abe dynamics", the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: "We expect that in future Indo-Japan ties would further cement, motivating the latter companies' number going up from 1,000 to over 1,500 in the next five years, and India agreeing to allow these companies to operate on its exclusive economic zones."

Currently, around 1,000 Japanese companies are operating in India in nearly 70 infrastructure projects, among which is the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor where Japan has so far invested USD 4.5 billion.